Hanover kept in dark over proposed Sarto cell tower

A Rural municipality of Hanover councillor says a company that promised a new cell tower in the region’s service dead zone has cut communication nearly two years after it was first announced, leaving residents and local officials wondering if the tower will be built.

SLI Towers, a telecommunications contractor located in Etobicoke, Ont., previously held discussions with the rural municipality in 2024 about putting a new cellular tower near Sarto, roughly 15 kilometres south of Steinbach, said Ward 4 Coun. Ed Penner. The tower, which would have fixed the area’s signal gaps, was announced alongside another structure which was slated for Steinbach.

Steinbach administration said it wasn’t aware of any towers built after plans were brought to council in 2024. They also noted the tower falls under federal jurisdiction.

“If there was a 911 call, we’d be in trouble. If you don’t have a landline, you’re in trouble, and if you’re outside on the highway, if you have a MVA (motor vehicle accident) or there’s emergency needed, you have no response,” Penner told The Carillon.

Residents call him at least once a week to ask about the tower’s progress because they feel “handicapped,” he said. To find cell service in the area, people either travel to the nearest signal or put up their own cell towers to boost signals on their homes.

He said the dead zone extends along Highway 12 for roughly 15 miles south of Steinbach and stretches down to Pansy.

SLI Towers hasn’t applied for any Hanover development permits, necessary documents for installing the tower, according to a rural municipality staffer with knowledge on the matter. The firm finished the necessary community consultations required by the federal Innovation, Science and Economic Development department in December 2024.

The firm communicated to the rural municipality that it was finding a construction company to build the tower in February 2025, the staffer said.

However, no work has been done on the slated property. Penner asked the firm for an update in March but never received a reply.

“I’ve been working on behalf of the residents here in Ward 4, try to get better service. But it seems like we’ve run into a roadblock,” he said.

“It almost seemed like they’ve changed their priorities and are directing their funds somewhere else.”

Penner was a founding member of the Southeast Cell Phone Working Committee, which formed in 2011, when he was a councillor in the Rural Municipality of Stuartburn. The committee lobbied the federal government for cellular service improvements following the Vita and Zoda fires in 2012. That effort saw three towers installed in the Southeast.

Progressive Conservative MLA for La Vérendrye Konrad Narth also sat on the committee when he was Stuartburn councillor. He points to that committee as the reason for the signal improvements.

Narth said cell service is a “major” Hanover issue, despite the Rural Municipality of Piney ‘s gaps being highlighted more often.

“There’s significant dead spots in a very densely populated region of our province. One of the fastest growing regions in the entire province, if not the fastest right now,” he said.

Narth has also tried getting information from SLI Towers, but without success. The tower would’ve helped fill in the dead zones that are preventing the Southeast from having uniform cellular service.

The lack of cell service in many of the area’s fields present safety risks for farmers, said Colin Hornby, general manager for Keystone Ag Producers. Agriculture is a “very” remote industry, he said.

“You could be out in the middle of a field and have nobody within a few miles of you when you’re working during harvest or whatever time of year. If you have a medical emergency…you’re kinda of out on your own,” Hornby said.

The gaps in coverage also limits producers when attempting to use new technologies that could improve efficiency in the field, he said.

To adapt to the dead zones, some farmers, Hornby said, are using technology such as Starlink, which receives wireless signal from orbiting satellites.

He said any provincial or federal investment and action on cell services is needed and welcomed.

SLI Towers didn’t respond to The Carillon’s interview requests by print deadline.